Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Well Actually You Forgot the Rest of the World

Looking back, the last post was...well depressing. So to make up for letting all you good people take a look into the deep unhappiness in the innermost recesses of my subconscious I will share with you something near and dear to me: movie posters.

Movie posters from Poland to be exact.

You see, not to long ago it was pretty hard for people in Eastern Europe to get a hold of good old American movies and even when they could get their hands on the films they usually came without any promotional material...such as posters.

So, or so they say, the people of Poland had only one option, make their own posters. I love Polish movie posters like I love album covers; the stranger the better. Here's ten of my favorites:

The Big Lebowski

This is only the beginning. What's strange about this poster is not the colors or the blocky shape of John Goodman there but that a scene from the movie is actually depicted on the poster. What does that mean? Well, in Poland, posters don't usually reflect the movie their advertising except for in a very abstract sense.

Such as...

Star Trek IV: The Voyage HomeRemember when the crew of the Enterprise went back in time to bring some Humpback Whales to the future so they can save Earth from an alien probe that communicated with a giant disco ball? Remember the part when they got lost in an Escher painting that was colored with melting crayons? No? Then you weren't paying attention.

AirplaneThis actually looks like something Rene Magritte might make. You know, if he was insane.

KabaratNO.

The ShiningThis...is easily more terrifying than anything Kubrick could put on screen. I'd like to imagine this hanging in a baby's bedroom.

Eyes Wide ShutMore Kubrick, and more giant mouths. I'm starting to see a pattern.

Jaws 2Just look at it.

That is a shark, with two mouths.

Say what you will about the tenets of Communism but they invented sharks with two mouths.

Well that's all I've got for now, just remember, even something as ugly as the Cold War can make something truly weird.